


Time To Dance

by WhereLifeIsStrong



Series: Of Nerds and Phones [1]
Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates, Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Based on a Tumblr Post, Gen, i'm so sorry everybody. not really but still, specifically the fe fates 'confession' about laslow playing dance dance revolution and everyone dies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-27
Updated: 2016-08-27
Packaged: 2018-08-11 07:11:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7881583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhereLifeIsStrong/pseuds/WhereLifeIsStrong
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Laslow is... not good at arcade games, to put it delicately.  Or at least, most of them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Time To Dance

**Author's Note:**

> this is based on the "laslow plays dance dance revolution and everyone dies" tumblr post and it's making me cry honestly,

Laslow slumped as he and his friends wandered around the arcade. He just wasn't an arcade game type of person. And now, after pushing him to play several of them, all his friends knew that. This was beyond embarrassing. This was humiliating.

It started when Owain had grown tired of trying to retrieve a claw-machine stuffed animal for Ophelia, and suggested that Laslow give it a try. The gray-haired boy's face immediately went pale. This could not end well. How could he admit that he sucked at arcade games, in front of all his friends AND his little sister? Soleil was looking up at him expectantly, as were the others. No, he couldn't decline the challenge. His pride wouldn't allow it.

So Laslow stepped up to that blasted claw machine and tried.

It didn't happen. Not the first time, not the second time, not the third time - not until Owain decided he'd run out of credits soon and stopped Laslow.

"Come on, Laslow, it was just a stroke of bad luck. You know those stuffies are always hard to get," the blond reassured, putting a hand on his best friend's shoulder. But judging by the snickers from the others, everyone knew that he had absolutely no skill.

Next up was Project DIVA, Azura's personal favorite game. She didn't strike Laslow as a weeby sort of person, but here she was, obsessing over Vocaloid. It was a side of her he'd never seen. Upon being asked, the girl merely shrugged. "I'm interested in all kinds of music."

"Len's cover of Snowman!" she exclaimed with sparkling eyes. "I love this song! We've gotta play it!" Thus, all of Azura's friends took turns mashing the buttons. Everyone did a fairly decent job... until, of course, it was Laslow's turn.

He hit all the wrong buttons at all the wrong times. The song was practically an instrumental, with the lack of Len's voice thanks to the missed notes. By now the kids were either staring at their friend in horror, amusement, or disappointment. How could someone be THIS bad at arcade games? Laslow could feel himself shrinking back. Nope, today was gonna be awful.

The day dragged on as he tried and failed at several arcade games, disheartened to the point where he even sat out on some. The boy groaned. He'd never be good at this. Ever. So there was no point in trying, because all that accomplished was making him look like a wimp in front of his friends. Soleil seemed to notice his bad mood, because she bought him a soda with her arcade tickets to try cheering him up.

"Remember to smile," Laslow's little sister said, leaning up to kiss his cheek. And he did smile at that. His sister was the sweetest little thing.

He was so busy wallowing in self-pity and other thoughts that he only noticed Lucina after the third time she'd called his name.

"Laslow!" she practically shouted. The blue-haired girl waved her hands in front of his face. "Las-low. Earth to Laslow!"

"H-Huh?" He jolted upwards suddenly at the sound of her voice. "What is it?"

"I said," Lucina continued, crossing her arms, "you like dancing, right? Shouldn't you be the first to try out Dance Dance Revolution?"

It was true; his mother was a dance teacher and he'd picked up quite a few techniques from her. But he didn't like admitting it in public. Too... embarrassing. And he doubted he'd be any good at DDR, considering his failure with the other games.

"It's worth a shot," said Owain, as if reading his mind. "Just this last one, maybe?"

"Alright." Laslow closed his eyes and sighed. "I'll give it a try." He walked up to the machine and swiped his arcade card, then punched in some random song. It didn't matter which one - he'd fail either way.

But when the music came on, something inside of him lit up. Something that inspired him to... to dance. With newfound concentration, he narrowed his eyes at the screen and grinned. He would rock this.

The song went by in a blur. A literal blur. Laslow was going so fast that the world was almost a blur around him, but his eyes never tore from the screen. The arrows scrolled across and he stepped. Before Laslow knew it, the song was over, and the only sound in the entire arcade was his heavy panting. With a few blinks, the boy glanced around to see all his friends, his sister, and even some strangers staring at him slack-jawed. Poor Gerome had fainted from the shock of... whatever had happened. Speaking of which--

"Uh, what happened?"

"What HAPPENED?" Owain echoed with wide eyes. "You just got a perfect score. That's what happened."

"You were practically on fire, Laslow!" Ophelia chirped. "I've never seen anyone's legs move so fast before!"

Nobody made fun of Laslow for sucking at arcade games after that.


End file.
